Dáil debates

Thursday, 14 November 2019

Financial Challenges Facing RTÉ and its Revised Strategy 2020-2024: Statements (Resumed)

 

1:40 pm

Photo of Jack ChambersJack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time. The most surprising thing about last week's announcement of the scale of the problems in RTÉ was that the Government was surprised at all. The station has posted seven annual deficits in the last decade. The broadcaster reportedly requested €55 million earlier this year, while the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, requested an additional €30 million in 2018. Anyone living in the real world - I accept many in the Government do not appear to be - can see the challenges encountered by media organisations in Ireland and all around the world. New players in this sphere like Netflix, Amazon and the deluge of free content available have flipped the traditional media landscape as we know it on its head.

Put simply, people consume media in new ways that were inconceivable a few years ago. The challenges faced by RTÉ are not unique. For the Government to spend all of last week blaming everything on RTÉ's failure to attract more advertising was either delusional or disingenuous. Last week the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, suggested RTÉ broadcast death notices as part of its remit as a public service station. If that is the Government's policy for saving the national broadcaster, I fear there is no hope at all for Government policy in the area.

The Government can add television licence fee reform to the growing pile of difficult problems it hopes will go away if it just ignores them, with homelessness and the health service. We have the highest rate of licence fee evasion in Europe, at more than €30 million. Reform of the licence fee alone would go a long way towards addressing many of the difficulties faced by RTÉ. It is especially galling, given that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment did all of the work for the Government with its recommendations in 2017. They included a broadening of the charge to capture households which were benefiting from public service broadcasting, irrespective of the technology used, and the introduction of re-transmission fees, for example. The report also called for greater use of moneys collected to promote all public service media, including local and community outlets and anyone engaged in public service journalism. The Government's decision, however, to kick reform five years down the road will ensure public service media will continue their steady decline. There might not be public service broadcasting, as we know it today, in five years' time. The Government should get on with reform now and stop wasting time. I would not support an increase in the licence fee because it would only punish the 85% of the population who already pay their licence fee and deserve a decent service.

None of this looks beyond the urgent need for serious reform, modernisation and cost cutting at RTÉ. The State broadcaster needs to do more to help itself and better serve the people who are paying for it. The plan unveiled by RTÉ must be closely examined. The potential for 200 job losses and pay cuts causes concern for many, as do the closure of the Limerick unit, the sale of the RTÉ Guide, the offloading of the orchestra and so on. I am pleased that representatives of RTÉ will appear before the communications committee in early December on foot of my request. More people watched one of Ireland's matches in the Rugby World Cup on the RTÉ website than on a television set. That is the new reality. At the same time, we also need to promote to audiences homegrown productions and talent. Screen Producers Ireland stated the level of content produced by Irish production companies in the past decade had halved. It is concerned this has had an impact on the sustainability and growth of the independent production sector. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has found that RTÉ and TG4 "continue to deliver value for Irish audiences" and that there is justification to support increased levels of funding through licence fee reform.

The Government needs to make a decision. Any more dithering will only disregard public service journalism further, something the Government will do so at its peril. In the era of Donal Trump, fake news and misinformation, there has never been a greater need for a strong, independent media asking difficult questions, even if it makes everyone in politics and across the board uncomfortable. The Government should examine the landscape of US television and the spectre of the outrageous, right-wing, shock-jock journalism culture that thrives in America. If this is the kind of media it wants, it is heading in the right direction, but circumstances need to change.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.